conditioning

[robert4567]

could someone please tell me how you get callasous on your knuckles

[tallgeese]

I think from a traditional standpoint, that's what striking a makawari is for.

I'd suggest repeated use of focus mitts and a heavy bag to condition the hands to striking. Not a wavemaster kind of thing, but an honest to goodness canvas heavy bad. This will build your tolerance to striking very well.

As cool as it is to pound on stuff, remember, you're in this for the long haul. And at some point in the future, you're going to want your hands to function for everyday things. So take care of them as you train. Wraps are important and proper coverage for significant bad work.

[Wa-No-Michi]

I think from a traditional standpoint, that's what striking a makawari is for.

No, this is a myth. The Makiwara is used to develop correct form and timing when delivering a punch against it. It is a way to hone correct body mechanics, nothing to do with developing callouses on your knuckles.

Anyway, why would you want to?

[joesteph]

could someone please tell me how you get callasous on your knuckles

I'd suggest repeated use of focus mitts and a heavy bag to condition the hands to striking. . . . This will build your tolerance to striking very well.

Anyway, why would you want to?

Robert, are you looking for calluses on your knuckles as a way of toughening your hands? Do you see calluses as preventing injury to your own hands? Are you seeing calluses as putting more power into your punch? Tough, uninjured, powerful . . . These are fine goals, but calluses aren't the way to achieve them.

Whenever any punching is done, the fist must be tight. Hitting any object, heavy bag, makiwara board, or your adversary's jaw, you've got to have a tight fist or you'll injure your own hand while throwing an ineffective punch.

Most martial artists will keep a tight fist, a strait wrist, and concentrate on impacting with the first two knuckles. Some can keep a tight fist and hit with the middle, ring finger, and little finger knuckles all together without injury, but none that I know of uses the little finger knuckle as the "lead" for impact.

If hitting a heavy bag, and perhaps doing different punches (horizontal fist, vertical fist, backfist, spinning backfist, even punching as rapidly as possible), you want to protect your hands with some kind of hand covering. One of the worst things that can happen when practicing punching is to skin your knuckles. I found this out when I used BOB's face for "speedbagging" punches repeatedly, and had no hand protection. My knuckles were skinned on both hands, and I couldn't practice punches without reopening the wounds, so that cost me practice time.

Calluses on your knuckles aren't functional. A tight fist, correct hand impact, and correct method of delivery (punching "through" the target, putting the proper twist of the body into each punch) will give you the hands you want--and need--as a martial artist.

[bushido_man96]

There are mixed feelings on the callousing of body parts. Some approve, and some don't. You can have a strong fist without the callouses, but you have to train properly, like joesteph discusses.

You could try doing knuckle push-ups as well to toughen your fists.

[tallgeese]

Well, that makes more sense now that it did to me yeasterday. I'm not a big fan of throwing my fist into something hard for no reason.

[Shiv]

I think callasous is kinda like a tough skin on your knuckles? To make my fists stronger, I do 50 knuckle pushups every day on my wooden floor. It hurts less everyday.

[joesteph]

To make my fists stronger, I do 50 knuckle pushups every day on my wooden floor.

I'll bet you've improved in making and keeping a tight fist and straight wrist. These are martial arts benefits.

As for calluses, they are the "tough" build-up of skin that can form on areas of the body (hands and feet), but they serve no martial arts purpose. The most heavily-callused hands, with a loose fist and/or wrist, will not produce a stronger punch and can invite injury.

[unknownstyle]

the calluses are not the important part, in order to have a good punch your wristand hand have to be able to take the impact. ill bet that if you asked most martial artists to throw twenty of their hardest punches into a bag alot would come out with sprained wrist and broken hands.so you must devolop these things first. plus the repeated impact will leave calcium deposits on your knuckles amd make them larger and kind of ugly

[Tiger1962]

You can get callouses on your knuckles from repeated punches to a brick wall, a hard surface, etc., but you do not need callouses on your knuckles to be proficient at punching.